Infrastructure

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Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is defined as “The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society.” The Metalspray process has contributed to date in the following ways.

Buildings

The world famous Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It is situated

on an artificial island approx. 300m off of Jumeirah Beach which is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. Its design was based upon a dhow, an Arabian boat with a triangular sail or sails.

Long concrete piles were driven into the sand to secure a foundation. A surface layer of rocks, circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, protect the foundation from erosion. Though it took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, it took fewer than three years to construct the building.

The hotel employs 9,000 tons of steel and more than 70,000 cubic meters of concrete. The internal atrium is 180m tall. Despite its size it only accommodates 28 double story floors with 202 suites.

When the Burj Al Arab was being built, vital structural components were Metalsprayed to protect against corrosion. In total over 9,000 square meters of steelwork was Metal sprayed using the Arcspray system.

The elements that were sprayed included the helicopter-deck framework, the roof mounted mast and six diagonal support braces each weighing in excess of 200 tons. An epoxy sealer and a three coat paint system were then applied for aesthetics and finished with a top coat of polyurethane.

The Aluminium Metal spray coating guarantees protection against corrosion in the harsh coastal environment in which the Burj Al Arab Hotel stands.

The cast iron roof and flag mast of the Palace of Westminster London (UK) (including “Big Ben” Clock Tower and Speaker’s House) were coated with Zinc Metalspray during its restoration period of 1981-94.

Bridges

Many Bridges worldwide have been metalsprayed for Corrosion protection. New Zealand is at the forefront of using the Metalspray technology with the production of various guides:-

AS/NZS 2312:2002(1) “Guide to the protection of structural steel against atmospheric

New Zealand has many bridge applications including the Auckland Harbour Bridge (NZ) (1958),

Te Rewa Rewa Footbridge (NZ)

Other bridges that have been coated include The Forth Road Bridge (UK) (1964), and the Pierre-Laporte Suspension Bridge across the St Lawrence near Quebec, Canada (where from 1977-79 some 165,000 m2 was coated after failure of the original paint system over a six year period), Humber Bridge (UK), The Bosphorus Bridge (Turkey), Tsing Ma Bridge (Hong Kong), The Clifton Suspension Bridge (UK),

The Forth Road Bridge (UK)

The Clifton Suspension Bridge (UK)

Pipelines

An early and successful use of Metalspray in Australia was on the second Warragamba pipeline (3m diameter and 22km long) built between 1964 and 1969. The first had been coated with the same heat-cured zinc silicate invented by Victor Nightingall and first used on the Morgan-Whyalla pipe line. While these have since been repainted several times, this has been due to delamination of the various over-coating systems and the underlying flame-sprayed Zinc TSZ is still sound . These pipelines supply 80% of Sydney’s water supply.

Street Lighting

Lighting Columns grit blasted and sprayed with Zinc or Aluminium. It is possible to apply thicker coatings at the base where the environment is more corrosive from passing vehicle splashing and/or animal fouling. The columns are then usually painted for decorative purposes.

Water Lock gates

Lock gates in Paris were treated in 1922 with Zinc and found to be in sound condition 40 years later. Other Lock Gates have been treated in various countries across the world.

The Emergency Gates on the Panama Canal are also Metalsprayed.

Wind Turbines

Wind turbine towers are exposed to harsh external environments, particularly those in an offshore location. A Corrosion resistant coating of Zinc is applied both manually and also on automated production lines

Electrical Towers

Electrical Towers straddle the landscape and in a lot of cases are very remote; this requires the protection from the varying climates that occur during the 4 seasons. Metalsprayed Zinc has been used not only on new Towers but also for the repair of corrosion damaged leg repairs in situ.